Spirited Return
by Morgaine Moonblade
Summary: Chihiro is grown, she has a younger sister, and Haku has just spoken to her in a dream.


Disclaimer: I do not own or make the movie Spirited away!

            "What ever you do, don't look back until you get out of the tunnel at the other end," the boy had warned her.

            "I won't.  But what will you do?"

            "Don't worry.  I'm going to go have a talk with Yubabba.  Tell her I'm going to quit being her apprentice."

            "But will I ever see you again?"

            "Yes, you will," he promised.  "Now go!"  He nudged her forward.  The girl ran to her parents on the other side of the river.  She did just as she was told, she didn't look back.  That is, she didn't look back until someone grabbed her arm.  She turned around and found that she staring into the beautiful eyes of her dragon boy.

At first they just stared at each other.  Then the loud noise of an explosion and a scream of immense anger told them they had to hurry.  The girl's eyes widened in fear when she saw the form of Yubaba, flying over the small buildings.  Then she felt the boy's grip on her arm increase.  She turned her view back to him, only to see that a dragon was now holding her arm.  The impulse to scream was stifled in her throat.  Then the dragon spoke:

            "Sen, I'm coming to your world.  Expect me today."

            Sen woke with a start.  Small silvery pearls of sweat rolled down her body.  She was panting hard, trying to catch her breath.  "_Whoa!  I've had those types of dreams before, but they were never like **that**!_" she thought.

It had been eight years since Chihiro left the Spirit Realm with her parents.  Eight years since she had to say goodbye to her true love (even though she was only 10 when she met him).  She was now 18 years old.  She could drive, go to R rated movies and smoke if she wanted (but she doesn't).  But she never let go of her memories of 8 years ago.  She had never told her parents what happened.  When they talked about "that old amusement part", she only nodded and smiled to herself.  She knew if she had tried to tell them, they would have just brushed her off and said she had just probably fallen asleep in the car.  She also still had the special, purple hair-tie that Granny and her friends had made for her.

            Four years after her adventure, her parents had another daughter.  When they were asking for name ideas, Chihiro had the perfect one.

            "Name her Sen."

            "That's a good name Honey!" her father praised.

            "Yes! I like it too!" exclaimed her mother.  "Where did you get that idea?"

            "Oh…it just came to me in a memory…" she said, smiling to herself.

            After her exciting activity in the Spirit Realm, she made sure she was never whiny or clumsy or cowardly.  If she had learned anything from her ordeals it was to be strong and independent.  She had excellent grades in school, she helped out around the house, and her manners greatly increased.  She was never lazy and she never complained when her parents asked her do something hard or gross (hey, it's no worse then giving a REALLY bad smelling river spirit a bath or stopping a monster from eating everyone!).

            As her sister grew, she told her about "Jen" and her adventures in another world.  Sen grew to be imaginative like her sister.  In fact, she also looked like a miniature version of her sister.  The only differences were that she had shorter and lighter hair, and she was much more out spoken then Chihiro.

            Chihiro stretched and got out of bed.  She could see a light coming through her shades, so she knew she would have had to get up anyway.  Chihiro left her room, walked down the hall and into the bathroom.  She slipped of her nightgown and stepped into the shower.  As the hot water washed away yesterday's stress and grime, her thoughts turned back to her dream.  "_That was just too real!  Was it a message from Haku?  Is he really coming today?  And what was up with Yubaba?  What made her so angry all of a sudden?  Was it because of Haku quitting as her apprentice?_"  She gripped her head in frustration.  "_Too many questions that need answering!_"  She sighed and eventually just brushed them off as your basic nightmare.

"It's just my subconscious's way of showing me my inner fear that Haku might never come," She stated, more as a way to reassure her mind.

            She finished showering and stepped out.  She then dried off and got dressed.  She quickly glanced at the clock and saw she had actually slept in.  It was already 8:45.  She rushed down the stairs and into the kitchen.  Her parents and sister were already there.  Here mom was cooking breakfast, and her sister was sitting at the table playing with the "Jen" and Haku dolls Chihiro had made for her.  Her dad was just sitting there reading the morning paper as usual.

"Morning Mother!" she said as she walked over and patted a kiss on her mother's cheek.

            "Chihiro!" Sen cried gleefully.  She hopped of her chair and ran over to her.  Chihiro swooped her up and spun her around once, before setting her back in her chair.

            "Morning Honey," mumbled her father from behind his newspaper.

            Chihiro picked up a muffin from the plate on the table.  "I'll be right back!  I have to go to the Temple and do something for Father Emrys!"  She kissed her father on the cheek and ran out.

            The walk to the temple if only a five minute hike, but it still gave her enough time to eat her muffin and think.  It was a nice warm, spring day.  The cherry blossom trees were already in full bloom, the stream was bubbling, and there was a gentle breeze.  This was the way she liked it.

            Eventually she arrived at the Temple.  She walked over to the shed and picked up the broom and started sweeping.  She was humming a tune she had recently heard when a big gust of wind came and blew all of the leaves and dust around.  She covered her eyes until it died down.

            "Hello Chihiro," said a deep male voice.

            She whipped around at the sound of her name.  A boy of her age was standing by a near by tree.  He had shoulder-length turquoise hair and beautiful sea green eyes.

            "Hello Haku."

AN: Thank you for reading my first chapter!  I'm sorry if it seems too Mary-Jane-ish right now, but I promise it will get better!


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